Our expat sites

Central America

Hi, I’m Breana and I live on the sunny Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Maarten! My husband, Ben, and I moved here from Phoenix, Arizona.

1. Why did you move abroad?
My husband decided to attend medical school as an international student in the Caribbean. We eventually want to move to Africa, where he was born, but this is a great place to start our expat adventures! After all, who wouldn’t want to spend a few years on a tropical island?(More)

Hi, I’m Clara Wiggins, I am from the UK but I was born in Cuba and I have lived and travelled all over the world. I currently live in the UK but our last overseas posting was in St Lucia – a small speck of an island in the Caribbean. We are currently planning a move to South Africa this summer, where we are all looking forward to seeing as many different wild animals as possible. In particular I am desperate to swim with whale sharks.

1. Why did you move abroad?
When I was a child I moved because of my father’s job. He was a diplomat in the British Foreign Office and his job took us to Cuba, The Philippines, Nigeria, Venezuela, Gibraltar and Cameroon. Later on I joined the Foreign Office myself (after working as a journalist and then some extensive travelling, which included living in New Zealand for a while) and was posted to Jamaica. There I met my now husband and I have travelled with him and our two daughters to Pakistan and St Lucia, with his job.(More)

Hi everyone! My name is Amanda, which is a fairly common name so growing up I was often called varieties of my last name: Walkins. AWalk was one of the more popular ones, and that’s why I named my blog AWalk on the Run.

I grew up outside of Boston, MA, and lived in the Virginia/Washington, DC, area for about 7 years before making the move to my current home of Roatan, Honduras. Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands, a series of Caribbean islands off the East coast of Honduras. Basically I live in paradise. And, no, I have never for even one millisecond missed the snow!

1. Why did you move abroad?
I moved to Roatan inadvertently. I was taking a 6-week backpacking trip through Honduras and Guatemala at the end of 2012. I stopped in Roatan for a few days of relaxation at the beach, which sets the scene for why I never left. My first full day in Roatan, as I lounged with a new friend in the sand only steps from the gorgeous shades of Caribbean blue water, some handsome guy stopped to chat with us. Within the 5 days I was supposed to be in Roatan he managed to sweep me off my feet enough to never leave. (I still haven’t been to Guatemala!)(More)

Hi readers and thank you for taking the time to read this interview. My name is Jules, I am originally from London, but now I live in the sunny and beautiful Caribbean. I have the pleasure of calling Ocho Rios, or Ochi (as we call it), Jamaica my home – the land of wood and water.

1. Why did you move abroad?
From the age of 15 I knew I wouldn’t spend all my adult life in the UK, but I didn’t know where I would move to. I love London, but I think living in London can become a trap where you are always pushing for a ‘bigger and better’ everything, whilst quietly thinking ‘will I over work myself before I am able to reach retirement age?’ From the first time I visited Jamaica I fell in love with the freedom, possibility and opportunity on the island and knew I had to find a means someway, somehow, to call it home.(More)

Hi, I’m Kris. My husband Joel and I have retired and moved to David, Panama in the beautiful Chiriqui Province. I’m originally from NY but we were living in Florida before moving here. I was a nurse. Joel was born in MA but has lived in many places. He’s a musician and construction – “I can fix or build anything” kind of guy.
1. Why did you move abroad?
We were looking at our retirement options. We quickly realized that if we stayed in the US we would have to work until 70, and even then it would be financially difficult. We were also ready for a new experience, a new adventure.

I’m Kristi but will also answer to JamCan, Jammie, Krusty and my Jamaican name, Gangsta. I’m a born and raised Canadian from Calgary, Alberta which is where I currently sit BUT have fled the frozen north more than once to live where my soul is - Jamaica.

1. Why did you move abroad?
Wouldn’t you move to the Caribbean if you were born into a land that provides 8 months of winter? Truthfully though, I decided to try the move because I had been traveling to Jamaica for 8 years prior and basically adopted their slower paced, carefree lifestyle enough that I saw my corporate government career for what it was…..a trap. High pay and a fancy pension are the carrots they dangle in front of your nose to keep you as a slave to your work life. I had been going to Jamaica every 3-6 months for years so moving there was the next logical step. The rat race was sucking the life out of me and I decided if I was always scared to leave I would die with a million regrets later in life.(More)

We are Kate and Kayla, two Canadian girls who quit their jobs, sold everything and moved to Jamaica in pursuit of sunshine, adventure and happiness!

1. Why did you move abroad?
We travelled to Jamaica by chance, looking to escape the cold Canadian winter ...little did we know what an impact it would have on our lives! We fell in love with the country, culture and climate and it just made us realize we wanted something different from what we were doing with our lives back home in Canada ... so we took a chance and moved to Jamaica!

2. How do you make a living?
At the moment, we actually travel back to Canada to work and earn money, as it is difficult to find work as a foreigner in Jamaica. We do however, have plans in the near future to open our own business in Jamaica to enable us to live and work there permanently.(More)

1. Why did you move abroad?
The hubs and I wanted to live in a tropical climate and still have spare funds to invest in our future. We chose Panama because it’s a quick flight back and forth but still worlds apart.(More)

We are Andy, Nanelle and Emme Newbom, and we moved from the San Francisco Bay Area of California, To San Salvador, El Salvador. We are chronicling our life as expats living in El Salvador.
1. Why did you move abroad?
We moved abroad because over the years of coffee sourcing trips (Andy was the owner of
Barefoot Coffee Roasters), we fell in love with El Salvador. My career in Law Enforcement was fun, but definitely not going to move forward, and both of us had developed a love for craft beer, and both of us felt Barefoot needed to get a major investment to grow.

We sold the coffee roasting company, along with our house, our furniture, our cars, our clothes, bikes and everything else that wouldn't fit into 4 suitcases, and I quit my very good job, to come here and start a Craft Beer brewery and source Direct Trade coffee for roasters.!(More)